The invention relates to an attachable alarm system for strollers for alerting parents and bystanders that a child is potentially being abducted.
Keeping their children safe from harm is one of the most paramount concerns of every parent. Whether it is openly discussing, calmly discouraging, or willfully forbidding such harmful acts as smoking, drug use, or unprotected sex, parents seek a myriad of ways to protect their kids in today's fast-paced world. While there are many potentially detrimental forces that can hurt children, parents feel confident that they have control over most of these. However, one of the greatest fears of every mother and father, and one which could render them helpless, is that their child will be lost or abducted. The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates that more than 2,000 children are reported missing each day in the United States, adding up to nearly 750,000 children a year who run away from home or are the victims of a family or non-family abduction. Providing a visual to go along with these alarming statistics, bulletin boards in large shopping centers are virtually covered with missing children flyers and posters.
Parents are extremely diligent in maintaining a constant eye on their little ones while out in public. However, as it can be a bit difficult with curious small children and active toddlers, parents sometimes have to resort to constantly holding the child's hand, or tethering them to child leashes to keep them from scampering out of sight. Parents and caregivers with infants in strollers may feel a little safer, as these convenient carriages allow them to control their child's whereabouts. Unfortunately, there could come a time when even the protection of a stroller could prove to be no match for a would-be abductor. In a busy mall or crowded park, a parent could turn away only for a split second, giving a kidnapper enough time to snatch the stroller and run with it. What is needed is a device that will alert a parent or caregiver that someone is attempting to remove a child from their stroller.
The present invention attempts to solve the abovementioned problem by providing an attachable alarm system for strollers for alerting parents and bystanders that a child is potentially being abducted.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,617,074 to White discloses a child finder device comprised of a transmitter attached to a subject's body or concealed as jewelry. U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,988 to Neyhart discloses a child proximity sensor system that has a unit worn by a child and locked with a key, and a parents monitoring unit capable of providing audible and visible alerts. U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,530 to Meinhold discloses an additional child protection device comprised of an alarm unit that can be worn on the wrist or torso of the subject.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.